Friday, April 3, 2015

Hijacked by a Hair Commercial

I typically don't watch videos on Facebook (too slow to surf) but there is no avoiding the My Choice video featuring Deepika Paukone by Vogue India. So I did and my first reaction was - good thing!

Wait wait wait .. I just saw the pretty face and who can disagree with a women's empowerment message? I like it I said to myself and moved on.

But something nagged - a voice in the back of my head asked -am I being manipulated? How do I show that I chose? By flapping my hair and showing a sexy body?

How do I learn to be strong? How do I learn not be a victim? How do I have the courage to leave home if forced into marrying a man 3 times my age?

Sure it is my choice not to have acid dropped on my face - but how do I enforce the choice?

Have better hair? Be more glamorous? Choose to hurt people by loving them and leaving them?

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose" somebody said (Pete Townsend?) and sure I am free to choose - responsibly - unless I have nothing left to lose.

But I do - I am woman yes. I am mother, wife, employer,employee, social activist and a great supported of women in technical professions. Does this video want to mold me into an image I find limiting?

Personally I like the story of the woman who gave her groom a math test at the altar and when he flunked simple addition she chose to stand up and walk away. I would share that video.

Normally I don't nit-pick but I just want to put it out there - Women's empowerment is much too important a topic to be hijacked by hair.